


Cloud

by grammarpolice



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Big Brother Keith (Voltron), Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), I'm Sorry, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Little Sisters, Mentioned Matt Holt, Platonic Relationships, Protective Pidge | Katie Holt, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 03:15:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19286995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grammarpolice/pseuds/grammarpolice
Summary: obviously, lyrics are not minesong: somewhere over the rainbowcomposed by: Harold Arlenlyrics by: Yip Harburgi wrote this as platonic but i suppose it can be read any way





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> obviously, lyrics are not mine 
> 
> song: somewhere over the rainbow 
> 
> composed by: Harold Arlen 
> 
> lyrics by: Yip Harburg 
> 
> i wrote this as platonic but i suppose it can be read any way

_“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.”_

His body sinks further into her arms, like all of his adrenaline drains from his lips in sputtering exhales that swell inside her own chest. She pushes back a gag as the metallic smell of his blood paints her armor with thick strokes.

_“Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”_

A cavernous cough wriggles from his lungs, conforming his body into a trembling mound against her own. She wraps her small arms around his chest, transferring as much consolation as the armor between them will allow.

_“Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me.”_

She carts gentle fingertips through his sweaty hair, allowing each strand a second in the spotlight.

_“Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high way above the chimney tops, that’s where you’ll find me.”_

She doesn't quite know why she's singing. Perhaps as much a feeble attempt to comfort herself as to comfort him. Her quiet voice is the only sonance in a star-heavy sky as time slips by like the loose hands on a clock.

A whimper drags her back to reality. She casts her gaze downward, eyes landing on his pale features.

“My--” he tries, but the words get caught in his throat.

“No, shh, it’s alright,” she whispers, swallowing past a lump in her throat.

He shakes his head-- almost frantically-- tracing her face through glazed eyes. A grimace flashes across his cheeks as he adjusts against her lap. “My mot’er used to s’ng that to me,” he says.

Her blood freezes. “Oh, sorry, Keith. I can-- I can stop.”

Keith shakes his head once again. “I l’ike it,” he whispers.

She nods, running a palm against his cheek. “When I was scared Matt used to sing it to me,” she says absentmindedly.

“Are ‘ou scared right n’w?” Keith asks.

She considers the question because yes, she is in fact scared. It bubbles in her stomach as tight knots, thick swallows against a thousand knives, welding tears that threaten to spill from her cheeks and onto the boy’s. Instead, however, she settles on a shrug. She’s not even sure if he can see it through those hooded eyelids.

“Pidge?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you ke’p singing?”

_“Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow, why oh, then why can’t I?”_

Keith relaxes into her chest, lulling his head against her shoulder. She holds him close as the threatening tears flood over the dam of her bottom lids. Sobs escape her lips in failed stifles as salty droplets wash down Keith’s chest.

 _“Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high way above the chimney tops that’s where you’ll find me,”_ she sings through a thick throat.

 _“Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow, why oh, then why can’t I?”_ Keith whispers, eyelids fluttering against their lids. He transports a shaking hand to lay on top of the green paladin’s. “Don't be scared,” he breathes.

Another sob tears from her throat as he gets heavier against her chest.

_“If happy little bluebirds fly…”_

She kisses his forehead.

_“Beyond the rainbow…”_

The sound of footsteps thunder toward her.

_“Why, oh then why, can’t I?”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> italics are song and/ or past

_“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.”_

Keith tries to ignore the way Pidge’s hushed voice quivers with each syllable, licking against his forehead in hot breaths as she cradles him around the chest, rocking both bodies in luling synchronization. Agony ignites in his stomach, thrashing against his flesh like a flare unleashed in a confined box. He almost throws up at the sensation, swallowing the bile against the shards of his esophagus with an uneasy inhale.

_“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”_

Coveted air struggles against sputtering exhales and he’s choking on a mixture of a lung and his own blood. Even through the thick of his chest plate, Keith can feel Pidge’s grip around his torso tighten; he sinks deeper into her arms.

_“Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me.”_

Pidge fondles wiry fingertips through his hair the way his mother used to, gentle and familiar. Keith remembers when he was five, lost between the daze of a nightmare. Against a sleep clogged throat, he’d shrieked for his mother, burrowing beneath the safety of his thin blanket as he awaited her.

_“It’s okay,” she said, rubbing his back as the smallest hours of the day ticked by. “You’re safe here. I will always protect you.”_

_“But what about when you’re not here?” Keith asked, struggling through a cloud of sniffles. “What do I do then?”_

_She smiled softly. “Look to the clouds,” she whispered, tucking the five-year-old beneath the sheets. After a moment she asked, “Keith, can I sing you a song?”_

_“Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high way above the chimney tops, that’s where you’ll find me.”_

“My--” Keith tries, choking on his own tongue as pain rips through his abdomen.

“No, shh, it’s alright,” whispers Pidge.

Keith shakes his head. “My mother used to sing ‘hat to me,” he says.

Pidge stiffens beneath him, gentle hand freezing against his scalp. “Oh, sorry, Keith. I can--I can stop.”

 “I like it,” Keith whispers.

_It’s the only thing that makes her stay._

The girl nods, running fingertips across his cheek; goosebumps ignite across his pale skin. “When I was scared Matt used to sing it to me,” she whispers.

Keith frowns. “Are ‘ou scared right now?” he asks.

Through blurry pupils, he watches as she shrugs. Her face shines a red twinge, face scrunching up in revolt against glassy eyes.

“Pidge?”

“Yeah?”

“Cou’d you keep singing?”

  _“Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly, birds fly over the rainbow, why, oh then, why can’t I?”_

Keith smiles, slipping closed his heavy eyelids and leaning further against her chest.

 _“Someday I’ll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high way above the chimney tops, that’s where you’ll find me.”_ Her voice hitches on each word, a sob escaping past her lips and settling into the sterling sky. Salt-infused droplets track down his cheeks and for a moment he’s not sure whether they’re hers or his.

 _“Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly, birds fly over the rainbow, why, oh then, why can’t I?”_ he chokes out.

_His mother brushed a careful hand down his cheek. “Don’t be scared,” she whispered softly._

Keith lifts a shaky hand onto Pidge’s. “Don’t be scared,” he breathes.

_“If happy little bluebirds fly…”_

Though a decade apart, both Pidge and his mother plant a kiss on his forehead.

_“Beyond the rainbow…”_

Keith’s mother appears before him, warm smile plastered across her features. She extends an arm, reaching out and intertwining her fingertips in his. “Are you ready to go to the clouds?' she asks softly. 

“ _Why, oh then why, can’t I?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kinda a flop I'M SORRY 
> 
> anyway even though it's confusing af i hope you enjoyed it :) 
> 
> did i successfully make you cry @ anonymous and blackwolffire ?? be honest because if the answer is no i'm gonna have to write another one and set it as my goal


End file.
